Congress Ends Ban On Medical Marijuana In D.C.

By Steve Elliott in Toke of the Town

theskunk.org

Congress respecting the will of the people? What's next, democracy?

​Eleven years later, it's about time: The U.S. Senate today passed historic legislation to end the decade long ban on implementation of the medical marijuana law Washington, D.C., voters passed with 69 percent of the vote in 1998.

"This marks the first time in history that Congress has changed a marijuana law for the better," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), based in D.C.

The "Barr Amendment," a rider attached to appropriations for the District of Columbia, has forbidden D.C. from extending the legal protection of Initiative 59, the "Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998," to qualified medical marijuana patients.

The amendment has long been derided as an unconscionable intrusion by the federal government into the District's affairs, according to MPP.

Read the rest at the new Village Voice Media cannabis blog, Toke of the Town:

Congress Ends Ban On Medical Marijuana In D.C.